Coast Alaska, the station services and advocacy group sent out a final warning so to speak and urged us to reach out to Begich... so this is what i sent, some of it in direct reply to comments he made on this topic before
In rural Alaska, we dont have internet on cell phones, the network out here is 2G. Some still dont have.. or even want the internet for various traditional and cost reasons. But what do they have? A radio.
I manage a public radio station station in rural McGrath. We serve several very small, remote villages on the lower Yukon, Lower Kuskokwim and Upper Kuskokwim whos population is predominantly older and radio is a very important habit and tradition. They have formed a relationship with us over 40 plus years and TRUST US.
If the CPB funding is eliminated, it would devastate my station... KSKO. Why? We derive 60 to 70 percent of our operating budget from CPB funding and I am the only full time staff member but we still manage to offer exemplary service
We have been on air at all hours of the day and night when towns are flooding at river break up when the water starts moving again. We have been on air whenever needed to bring wildfire information to our residents when towns are being threatened.
When a town begins to flood at 10pm at night, I was on the air for several hours. People might be winding down the night or laying in bed but they have radios on. When people woke up the next day and realized how bad the flooding was and how it kept going, I was on the air on and off for 9 hours providing vital information as the situation changed.
In situations like that, even if people have internet and cell phones, they don't have time to be searching for stuff as they clean muck off their living room floor and move furniture or throw out stuff that was damaged.
When a wildfire is so close to a community, visibility is less than a mile, they don't have time to be looking stuff up, they have to protect their property but can listen to radio with earbuds or on a big speaker while they work.
When our community was dealt a one two punch with two deaths in the same weekend, one from the Bering Air crash and one from a 6 year old dying under questionable circumstances, we had a mental health professional on the air the next day to talk about coping with loss.
When phone service on landlines or cell phones fails, as it so regularly does out here, offering rendering cell and landlines inoperable, even to reach 911, KSKO plays a critical role in letting people know about the outage and what to do in the interim when an emergency may arise while also playing public megaphone and passing along urgent messages.
With the loss of CPB funding, my position would eventually be eliminated and so would all of our local programming and all of that life saving information. Residents would have nowhere to turn for any of that. Social media and the internet are great as ADDITIONAL TOOLS for us, but could never even come close to approaching what we offer.. mainly information that you can trust and know is accurate.
Please, please.... save our CPB funding. KSKO has a 44 year legacy of being the only source of information and despite having little staff, I continue that because PEOPLE DEPEND ON US.
Rep Begich or any of his staff are VERY WELCOME to call me anytime .. 907 **** that is my cell phone. I would be glad to share stories, answer any questions or even further explain why we are so vital.
I understand people who don't live or spend alot of time in rural Alaska may not understand just how vital we are, so I am more than glad to provide any info I can.
